Prospects of regional partnership discussed in Ashgabat

The 17th Ministerial Conference on the Central Asian Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Program was held in Ashgabat. The meeting brought together representatives of the Central Asian countries, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the World Bank, the Islamic Development Bank, the IMF, the CAREC Institute and the European Union.

The Conference noted the improvement in the economic and trade sphere in the CAREC region as a whole, the dynamics of which, according to the ADB forecasts, will continue. Speakers also stressed that the economies of the CAREC countries adequately responded to the external challenges, having demonstrated resilience. They noted that strengthening of relations between the countries of the region and creation of a favorable environment for enhanced economic cooperation would open up new prospects for development of trade in the region.

The conference participants witnessed the signing of two documents, such as the Agreement on strengthening the national power supply network of Turkmenistan and the Agreement on connecting Tajikistan to the Central Asian energy system. The implementation of these agreements will be funded by the Asian Development Bank.

This autumn, a large-scale gas chemical complex (GCC), the first of its kind in Central Asia, was commissioned in the village of Kiyanly in the west of the country with participation of the President of Turkmenistan.